Burglar alarm actuator



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BURGLAR ALARM ACTUATOR Filed March 28. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSLEROY C. SPENARD DAVID J. ARMSTRONG BY f ATTORNEY May 28, 1963 LE ROY c.SFENARD ETAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 28, 1960 m N A U528 292%; N mmw w m u D w c %E 520 vzwmmw m 2 5:5 mm a 555 m zotzm w u H n m .L@ I l v0: a

DAVID J. ARMSTRONG ATTOR N EY 3,091,760 BURGLAR ALARM ACTUATOR Le Roy C.Spenard, Port Washington, and David '3. Armstrong, Garden City, N.Y.,assignors to Holmes Electric Protective Company, New York, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Mar. 28, 1960, Ser. No. 17,806 3 Claims.(Cl. 340378) This application relates to burglar alarms and moreparticularly to an alarm actuator for protecting sliding elevator floordoors.

Two basic types of burglar protection have been utilized until now forsliding elevator floor doors namely tapes and protective screens orpanels. On the older type of passenger elevator floor door which wasconstructed with a recessed panel, electrical tape lining was usedbecause the recess provided sufficient space to apply the tape and aprotective cover. Sliding contacts, parts of which were fastened to boththe door and lintel were used to transmit the signal from the tape tothe alarm reception point. To protect the tape against damage aprotective covering was utilized which was usually fastened to the panelwith a dozen or more screws. From the point of appearance this method ofprotecting an elevator door left much to be desired because if the panelwere removed, the door was left very unsightly due to the presence ofthe screw holes. On those occasions when a building owner refused topermit any screw holes in the elevator door and trim, protection had tobe provided in the form of tape panels or lattice screens which wereeither permanently hinged to or removable from the door during the day.But these. too, required the presence of fastening hardware andelectrical contacts which marred the appearance of the elevator trim.

The modern elevator fioor door has no recessed panel. It is constructedwith plain surfaces which slide past a buck with tolerances so close asto prohibit application of the usual tape lining directly to the door.The prior form of protection remaining was therefore screens or panels.This fact was grudingly accepted by owners and subscribers whocomplained at the daily nuisance associated with removing such screensor panels which rapidly deteriorate in appearance due to constanthandling. Consequently, there has been continuous pressure from bothbuilding owners and alarm subscribers to devise a form of protection forpassenger elevator doors which would exclude unsightly features,eliminate or greatly reduce the number of holes in the door trim andstill afford an effective and economical primary defense againstunauthorized entrance. Our invention provides such a form of protection.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the preferred embodiment of ourinvention. However, it is not intended to be limited to the applicationillustrated therein since it is obvious that the invention is suitablefor use with v other forms of sliding closures.

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of one form of sliding elevatorfloor door with the alarm actuator in place.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view looking upwardly toward thelintel of said installation as shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the 'interior of our device as seen from 33of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a wiring diagram for said actuator installation.

United rates Patent 3,091,760- Patented May 28, 1963 "ice supported by alever arm 13 pivotally fastened to the frame at 14. Fastened to thelever arm 13 is a vibration detection device 15 of a standardconstruction, well known in the art. Fastened to the lever arm at theend opposed to the roller is a fiat spring 16 which extends outwardlyfrom said arm to a superimposed position over an actuator 17 formicro-trap switches 18 and 19 which are suitably fastened to the frame10. Fastened to the lever arm at its extreme end opposite the pivotpoint and near the roller 12 is a stop' bracket 20 substantially atright angles to said arm which prevents the lever arm from extendingbeyond the boundaries of the frame.

This bracket 20 has an extended portion 21 which moves with the'leverarm 13 should the latter be moved inwardly during an attempted oraccidental jamming. Obviously bracket 20 may be fastened to the leverarm as recited above or it may be an integral part of the arm. Asextension 21 is carried inwardly it will actuate an over-travel switch22 fastened to the frame 10. Also fastened to the frame is a terminalstrip 23 to which the necessary line and interior wiring connections aremade. Mounting holes 24 are used to join the device to the. under sideof the lintel. Mounting posts 25 permit a cover to be joined to theframe. The wiring hole 26 permits a ready access for the wiring from theexterior of the attachment to the interior.

The operation of our device is as follows: Tlie roll er 12 bears on asliding elevator floor door shown here as 3 with a firm pressureproduced by both the action of the-springs in the trap switches 18 and19 andthe flat spring 16. Failure of either one of the pressure sourceswill not interfere with the roller being in good contact with the door.As the door is opened, the roller falls off the edge of the door after amovement of a predetermined distance has occurred, as shown in FIG. 2.When this occurs the arm acting under spring pressure, moves further outof its housing by about an eighth of an inch. This action causes theoperation of a combined break and short spring switch 18 together withthe operation of a secondary break spring switch 19. The purpose of thislatter contact is to guard against possible failure of the switch 18. Itis of course possible to reverse the positions of these switches. Theseswitches are then carried by the proper wiring circuit into thesubscribers alarm set (see FIG. 4).

In addition directly attached to the lever arm is a miniature vibrationcontact 15 of well-known construction, the contacts of which are in linewith the roller which normally rests against the door. For all practical purposes, therefore, this vibration attachment is in directcontact with the door just as if it were securely fastened to it. A dustcover (not shown) is provided to protect the vibration contacts. In caseof attack this device should react first.

To further guard against the possibility of accidental or purposefuljamming of the contact in a closed position a third switch has beenconnected into the circuit and placed within the housing as shown at 22in such a manner that a short is produced when the roller is pushed in ashort distance beyond its normal position. It is thus seen that what isattained is a very small unit which is mounted inconspicuously, does notrequire any attention from the subscriber but still gives a primarydefense against attack by unauthorized entrants. If it is desired thisdevice could be fastened at a point approximately midway between thesides of the door, and utilizing a small block fastened to the door. thenecessity of placing the device at the break of the door in order tocause an alarm before the door has opened more than approximately thedesired approximate two inches. Secondly, an alarm would be receivedbefore any portion of the unit comes into view, thereby precluding anypossibility of tampering with the unit from Q I a This would negateoutside of protection. This second alternate method could be utilizedwhere the appearance of the door is not of prime concern and whereclearances between the door and the buck are not critical enough tointerfere with the operation of the door.

We claim:

1. A burglar alarm switch mechanism for a sliding elevator floor doorcomprising a casing for retaining ""s'aid mechanism adjacent said door,a lever with a lever said roller from said door to said arm and forturning in an alarm upon the occurrence ofsgch vibrations, an additionalswitch fastened to said casing near the end of said lever arm oppositesaid pivotally fastened end, means at the end of said lever arm oppositesaid pivotally fastened end for actuating said additional switch to turnin an alarm when said contact means is forced inwardly of said casingout of contact with said door.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein the means atthe end of said leverarm is a bracket extension.

3. A burglar alarm switch mechanism for a sliding elevator floor doorcomprising a casing for retaining said mechanism adjacent said door, alever arm having one end pivotally fastened to the interior of saidcasing, a roller fastened to said lever arm near the end opposite saidpivotally fastened end, said roller extending through an opening in.said casing for rolling contact with said door, means for urging saidarm and said roller outwardly of said casing, a switch fastened to saidcasing adjacent said pivoted end of said arm, means between said arm andsaid switch for actuating said switch to turn in an alarm when saidroller is released outwardly from contact with said door, a devicefastened to said lever arm for detecting vibrations transmitted throughsaid roller from said door to said arm and for turning in an alarm uponthe occurrence of such vibrations, an additional switch fastened to saidcasing near the end of said lever arm opposite said pivotally fastenedend, a substantially right angled extension at the end of said lever armopposite said pivotally fastened end for actuating said additionalswitch to turn in an alarm when said roller is forced inwardly of saidcasing out of rolling contact with said door.

Lutz May 6, 1916 Tinsley et al. June 17, 1958

1. A BURGLAR ALARM SWITCH MECHANISM FOR A SLIDING ELEVATOR FLOOR DOORCOMPRISING A CASING FOR RETAINING SAID MECHANISM ADJACENT SAID DOOR, ALEVER WITH A LEVER ARM HAVING ONE END PIVOTALLY FASTENED TO THE INTERIOROF SAID CASING, CONTACT MEANS FASTENED TO SAID LEVER ARM FOR MAINTAININGCONTACT WITH SAID DOOR, RESILIENT MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID LEVER FORURGING SAID CONTACT MENS OUTWARDLY OF SAID CASING, AT LEST ONE SWITCHFASTENED TO SAID CASING ADJACENT SAID LEVER, A MEMBER EXTENDING FROMSAID ARM TO ACTUATE SAID AT LEAST ONE SWITCH TO TURN IN AN ALARM WHENSAID CONTACT MEANS IS RELEASED OUTWARDLY FROM CONTACT WITH SAID DOOR, ADEVICE FASTENED TO SAID LEVER ARM FOR DETECTING VIBRATIONS TRANSMITTEDTHROUGH SAID ROLLER FROM SAID DOOR TO SAID ARM AND FOR TURNING IN ANALARM UPON THE OCCURRENCE OF SUCH VIBRATIONS, AN ADDITIONAL SWITCHFASTENED TO SAID CASING NEAR THE END OF SAID LEVER ARM OPPOSITE SAIDPIVOTALLY FASTENED END, MEANS AT THE END OF SAID LEVER ARM OPPOSITE SAIDPIVOTALLY FASTENED END FOR ACTUATING SAID ADDITIONAL SWITCH TO TURN INAN ALARM WHEN SAID CONTACT MEANS IS FORCED INWARDLY OF SAID CASING OUTOF CONTACT WITH SAID DOOR.